Al-Azhar suspends professor who encourages theft of electricity in Egypt

Egypt’s Al-Azhar University has suspended a professor of theology and philosophy for three months, or until investigations are completed, after he issued an Islamic legal opinion that it is permissible for citizens to steal electricity and drinking water due to the increase in prices in the country. Imam Ramadan Imam teaches in the Department of Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Education in the university’s Cairo campus. His fatwa was contained in a video under the heading “Steal from them, God will have mercy on you” which is spreading on social media.

The decision to investigate Imam for his “unusual” fatwa was made because it includes jurisprudential violations and contradicts the teachings of Islam, said the university. Egyptian law governs Al-Azhar in this respect.

“I tell you to steal your rights, and I issued a fatwa in which I permit the theft of electricity, water and gas, as long as the government calls restoring some rights theft,” said Imam in the video. “Those who permit what is forbidden and forbid what is permissible are the ones who lit up the administrative capital with electricity, and they do not pay a single pound for it. They light up the defence, infantry and armoured vehicles, as well as the centres and all the clubs affiliated with the armed forces and police, and they did not pay the state a pound for its consumption.”

The Egyptian authority responsible for issuing such legal opinions based on Islamic teachings, Dar Al-Iftaa, said that, “It is religiously forbidden to benefit from state resources such as water networks or power lines by evading them by any illegal means, in order to avoid paying the fees; as this is a forbidden theft, harming public interest, violating the system, betraying trust, and disobeying the guardian who must be obeyed according to Sharia.”

It added on its official Facebook page: “It is no secret that this involves the spread of corruption and the loss of rights, by violating the rights of the poor and those with limited income, by exploiting the share allocated for their basic need for these services. Claiming that this is a legitimate right that is permissible without compensation is a false claim that has no basis in the honourable Sharia.”

The Egyptian government raised electricity prices retrospectively as from 1 August, by between 17 and 40 per cent, on the pretext of the rise in the cost of fuel for generating it. It also imposed a seven per cent fine on those who are late in paying their monthly electricity bills. This is the second increase in prices this year, aiming to bring the selling prices of electricity for all consumers to 2.35 Egyptian pounds per kilowatt, in addition to the fees imposed for cleaning and the monthly cost of maintaining meters and transformers, of which citizens bear the cost at the beginning of the contract.

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